Pubdate: Wed, 11 Dec 2013
Source: Revelstoke Times Review (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 Black Press
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/GUUzNSgH
Website: http://drugsense.org/url/ujMTHNZu
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2139
Authors: Aaron Orlando and Art Harrison
Cited: Sensible BC: http://www.sensiblebc.ca

SENSIBLEBC SAYS THEY MET TARGET IN RIDING, BUT REVELSTOKE LAGGED

Organizers of the Sensible BC cannabis initiative petition were 
admitting defeat a few days ahead of the Dec. 9 deadline to get 
signatures in to Elections B.C.

The B.C. initiative petition would amend provincial rules to limit 
police enforcement of marijuana laws.

Referendum campaign organizer Dana Larsen said they only had about 
220,000 signatures, short of the 400,000 needed.

When contacted on Dec. 10, an Elections BC spokesperson said that 
since the initiative petition has failed, they will not be releasing 
the number of signatures collected on a riding-by-riding basis. 
Although the proponent may claim a certain number, some are likely to 
be disqualified because those who signed were not eligible. One 
requirement is to be a registered voter in the riding, for example. 
The Elections BC spokesperson said media outlets won't have access to 
independently-verified petition numbers and would have to rely on the 
numbers provided by the proponents.

In the Columbia River-Revelstoke riding, organizer Ashlee Taylor said 
they surpassed the mark in the final days, coming in a few hundred 
votes over the threshold of 2,501 - which is 10 per cent of the 
25,002 voter count in this riding.

She said the local campaign went "awesome," even though canvassers 
did experience hostility from time to time.

"It's nice to hear both sides," Taylor said. "We managed to change 
people's feelings on it."

Taylor said lack of timely organization hurt the effort. "I just 
received my [canvassing] package about two weeks ago," she said.

Revelstoke was the weak link in the riding. Kimberley had 18 
canvassers, Invermere had six and Golden had nine. In Revelstoke, 
only two volunteered; neither of them were able to go door to door.

"Everyone is really surprised that Revelstoke didn't jump on it," Taylor said.

Sensible BC is predicting exceeding the threshold in Columbia 
River-Revelstoke, but it now seems clear the initiative petition 
won't pass the highest bar: getting a 10-per-cent minimum in each riding.

The B.C. referendum process has only been successful once in nine 
attempts to force referendums in B.C., in 2011 when it was used to 
compel the B.C. government to hold a referendum on the Harmonized 
Sales Tax (HST).

Larsen said the campaign went well in numerous areas of the province, 
with areas such as Nelson, Creston, Vancouver Island, Penticton, and 
the Sunshine Coast gathering enough signatures quite quickly but 
areas such as the Fraser Valley, Cariboo, and Surrey presenting 
particular challenges.

Larsen said he was surprised by the reaction of some opponents to the 
legislated petition process.

"We found that, for some, stigma was an issue," Larsen said. "Some 
people said they'd love to sign but were afraid the RCMP or the 
government would know that they had signed the petition and harass 
them. It was a baseless fear but that's where some people were coming from.

Although hopes aren't high for a successful petition campaign Larsen 
said that, for himself and Sensible B.C. it's not the end.

"There's no dates yet to start again but we learned a lot. We raised 
an army," he said. "We had a lot of great canvassers out there and it 
really started to build momentum. If we had the momentum at the 
beginning of the campaign that we did at the end it would have passed 
by a landslide. We have to evolve, have to re-organize."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom